Methods and systems for delivering independently-controllable interactive media content

Abstract

An exemplary system generates a plurality of different content files each including data representative of content of a virtual reality world, and provides the plurality of different content files to a media player device via a network. In particular, the generated and provided plurality of different content files comprises at least one of a plurality of uniform-resolution content files and a plurality of mixed-resolution content files. The plurality of uniform-resolution content files are each associated with a different respective center point within the virtual reality world. The plurality of mixed-resolution content files each correspond to one respective content sector of a plurality of partially overlapping content sectors that together form a view of the virtual reality world associated with a single center point, the one respective content sector being encoded in a high resolution while a remainder of the content sectors are encoded in a low resolution.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system comprising:
 at least one physical computing device that:
 generates a plurality of different content files that each include data representative of content of a virtual reality world, the plurality of different content files comprising at least one of
 a plurality of uniform-resolution content files that each are encoded in a uniform resolution, that each are associated with a different respective center point within the virtual reality world, and that each comprise data representative of a different view of the virtual reality world corresponding to the respective center point of each uniform-resolution content file, and 
 a plurality of mixed-resolution content files that each correspond to one respective content sector of a plurality of partially overlapping content sectors that together form a view of the virtual reality world associated with a single center point, and that each comprise data representative of the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors in which the one respective content sector is encoded in a high resolution and in which a remainder of the content sectors are encoded in a low resolution lower than the high resolution; and 
 
 provides the plurality of different content files to a media player device by way of a network. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the at least one physical computing device provides the plurality of different content files concurrently to the media player device and an additional media player device; 
 the media player device is associated with a first user and is configured to render, within a first field of view presented on a display screen of the media player device, a portion of a first content file included in the plurality of different content files, the portion of the first content file representative of content of a first observed area of the virtual reality world to which the first user directs the first field of view; and 
 the additional media player device is associated with a second user and is configured to render, within a second field of view presented on a display screen of the additional media player device, a portion of a second content file included in the plurality of different content files, the portion of the second content file representative of content of a second observed area of the virtual reality world to which the second user directs the second field of view. 
 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the portion of the first content file dynamically changes to continually represent content of the first observed area as the first user experiences the virtual reality world; 
 the portion of the second content file dynamically changes to continually represent content of the second observed area as the second user experiences the virtual reality world; and 
 the first and second fields of view are independently directed by the first and second users, respectively, such that the portion of the first content file rendered within the first field of view is different from the portion of the second content file rendered within the second field of view. 
 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the plurality of different content files comprises the plurality of mixed-resolution content files; and 
 the one respective content sector to which each content file in the plurality of different content files corresponds is a different respective content sector for each content file. 
 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the plurality of different content files comprises the plurality of mixed-resolution content files; 
 the view of the virtual reality world is represented, within the plurality of mixed-resolution content files, as a spherical structure around the single center point; and 
 the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors includes a first content sector and a second content sector that are partially overlapping with one another and that are each partially overlapping with at least two additional content sectors included within the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors. 
 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the plurality of different content files comprises the plurality of uniform-resolution content files; and 
 the at least one physical computing device provides each uniform-resolution content file in the plurality of uniform-resolution content files over the network on a separate multicast channel. 
 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the plurality of different content files comprises the plurality of mixed-resolution content files; and 
 the at least one physical computing device provides each mixed-resolution content file in the plurality of mixed-resolution content files over the network on a separate multicast channel. 
 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the content files in the plurality of different content files are implemented as continuous data streams; and 
 the at least one physical computing device provides the plurality of different content files by processing and continuously transmitting the continuous data streams. 
 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the at least one physical computing device further provides the plurality of different content files to an additional media player device concurrently with the providing of the plurality of different content files to the media player device; and 
 the concurrent providing of the plurality of different content files to the media player device and to the additional media player device is performed by way of the network using a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service point-to-multipoint media delivery protocol performed using a Long-Term Evolution wireless platform. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the at least one physical computing device further receives data representative of camera-captured real-world scenery, the data representative of the camera-captured real-world scenery captured by a video camera arranged to capture a 360-degree image of the real-world scenery around a center point corresponding to the video camera; and 
 the at least one physical computing device generates the plurality of different content files based on the received data representative of the camera-captured real-world scenery. 
 
     
     
       11. A media player device comprising:
 a display screen; and 
 at least one physical computing device that:
 detects user input provided by a user associated with the media player device, 
 accesses, based on the detected user input, one or more content files from a plurality of different content files provided to the media player device by an interactive media content provider system and by way of a network, the plurality of different content files each including data representative of content of a virtual reality world and the plurality of different content files comprising at least one of
 a plurality of uniform-resolution content files that each are encoded in a uniform resolution, that each are associated with a different respective center point within the virtual reality world, and that each comprise data representative of a different view of the virtual reality world corresponding to the respective center point of each uniform-resolution content file, and 
 a plurality of mixed-resolution content files that each correspond to one respective content sector of a plurality of partially overlapping content sectors that together form a view of the virtual reality world associated with a single center point, and that each comprise data representative of the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors in which the one respective content sector is encoded in a high resolution and in which a remainder of the content sectors are encoded in a low resolution lower than the high resolution, and 
 
 presents, to the user by way of the display screen and based on the one or more content files, the content of the virtual reality world. 
 
 
     
     
       12. The media player device of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the plurality of different content files comprises the plurality of mixed-resolution content files; and 
 the one respective content sector to which each content file in the plurality of different content files corresponds is a different respective content sector for each content file. 
 
     
     
       13. The media player device of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the plurality of different content files comprises the plurality of mixed-resolution content files; 
 the view of the virtual reality world is represented, within the plurality of mixed-resolution content files, as a spherical structure around the single center point; and 
 the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors includes a first content sector and a second content sector that are partially overlapping with one another and that are each partially overlapping with at least two additional content sectors included within the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors. 
 
     
     
       14. The media player device of  claim 11 , wherein:
 the content files in the plurality of different content files are implemented as continuous data streams; and 
 the at least one physical computing device accesses the plurality of different content files by continuously receiving the continuous data streams as the interactive media content provider system processes and continuously transmits the continuous data streams. 
 
     
     
       15. The media player device of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one physical computing device accesses the one or more content files from the plurality of different content files by way of the network using a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service point-to-multipoint media delivery protocol performed using a Long-Term Evolution wireless platform, the Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service point-to-multipoint media delivery protocol configured to allow the interactive media content provider system to provide the plurality of different content files to the media player device concurrently with providing the plurality of different content files to an additional media player device. 
     
     
       16. The media player device of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a head-mounted virtual reality device within which the display screen is disposed; 
 motion sensors disposed within the head-mounted virtual reality device; 
 directional sensors disposed within the head-mounted virtual reality device; and 
 orientation sensors disposed within the head-mounted virtual reality device. 
 
     
     
       17. The media player device of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one physical computing device accesses the one or more content files from the plurality of different content files by accessing a plurality of content files from the plurality of different content files one content file at a time. 
     
     
       18. A method comprising:
 generating, by an interactive media content provider system, a plurality of different content files that each include data representative of content of a virtual reality world, the plurality of different content files comprising at least one of
 a plurality of uniform-resolution content files that each are encoded in a uniform resolution, that each are associated with a different respective center point within the virtual reality world, and that each comprise data representative of a different view of the virtual reality world corresponding to the respective center point of each uniform-resolution content file, and 
 a plurality of mixed-resolution content files that each correspond to one respective content sector of a plurality of partially overlapping content sectors that together form a view of the virtual reality world associated with a single center point, and that each comprise data representative of the plurality of partially overlapping content sectors in which the one respective content sector is encoded in a high resolution and in which a remainder of the content sectors are encoded in a low resolution lower than the high resolution; and 
 
 providing, by the interactive media content provider system, the plurality of different content files to a media player device by way of a network. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein:
 the providing of the plurality of different content files is performed by concurrently providing the plurality of different content files to the media player device and an additional media player device; 
 the media player device is associated with a first user and is configured to render, within a first field of view presented on a display screen of the first media player device, a portion of a first content file included in the plurality of different content files, the portion of the first content file representative of content of a first observed area of the virtual reality world to which the first user directs the first field of view; and 
 the additional media player device is associated with a second user and is configured to render, within a second field of view presented on a display screen of the additional media player device, a portion of a second content file included in the plurality of different content files, the portion of the second content file representative of content of a second observed area of the virtual reality world to which the second user directs the second field of view. 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 18 , embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.